*marketing
*marketing
Search 9:21 PM Mon Feb 15 Lego's researchers were embedded with families in the U.S. and Germany and spent months interviewing parents and children, shopping with them, creating video diaries, and studying toy shops. Through this deeper market research, Lego learned that children were not too busy to spend time building Legos. Instead, children play as an escape from their overly orchestrated lives. They not only have the time but also have the desire to achieve mastery" by honing a skill like building their creations made of Lego bricks. This insight on why children play provided Lego with a new focus that returned them to their roots and propelled the company to revenue growth that nearly quintupled between 2007 and 2016 to $6B. This growth trajectory came to a screeching halt in 2017 when Lego saw revenue drop for the first time in 13 years, creating the need to shed about 1,400 jobs. Analysts point to competition from programmable robotic kits that appeal to kids in an increasingly digital world. Internal challenges have plagued the toymaker as well . Expecting continued growth, Lego created an organizational structure with many layers that made reacting to changing trends slow and marketing strategy implementation tedious. More fundamentally, inaccurate forecasting led them to manufacture more product than needed, leading to a sell-off at lower profit margins. Lego's recent history shows both the promise of creative market research and its limitations. Effective research is a foundation for the evidence-based approach to decision making you learned about in Chapter 30. But their recent challenges show that research alone-even using the most innovative methods-does not guarantee business success. Consistent success comes from asking the right questions, making the right interpretations, and ultimately implementing the right strategies. Lego management now has the challenge of putting the pieces of Lego back together again, using the knowledge gained from new market research to make wise decisions about marketing strategy going forward. You Make the Call Search 9:21 PM Mon Feb 15 Lego's researchers were embedded with families in the U.S. and Germany and spent months interviewing parents and children, shopping with them, creating video diaries, and studying toy shops Through this deeper market research, Lego learned that children were not too busy to spend time building Legos. Instead, children play as an escape from their overly orchestrated lives. They not only have the time but also have the desire to achieve mastery by honing a skill like building their creations made of Lego bricks. This insight on why children play provided Lego with a new focus that returned them to their roots and propelled the company to revenue growth that nearly quintupled between 2007 and 2016 to $6B. This growth trajectory came to a screeching halt in 2017 when Lego saw revenue drop for the first time in 13 years, creating the need to shed about 1,400 jobs. Analysts point to competition from programmable robotic kits that appeal to kids in an increasingly digital world. Internal challenges have plagued the toymaker as well. Expecting continued growth, Lego created an organizational structure with many layers that made reacting to changing trends slow and marketing strategy implementation tedious. More fundamentally, inaccurate forecasting led them to manufacture more product than needed, leading to a sell-off at lower profit margins. Lego's recent history shows both the promise of creative market research and its limitations. Effective research is a foundation for the evidence-based approach to decision making you learned about in Chapter 30, But their recent challenges show that research alone-even using the most innovative methods-does not guarantee business success. Consistent success comes from asking the right questions, making the right interpretations, and ultimately implementing the right strategies. Lego management now has the challenge of putting the pieces of Lego back together again, using the knowledge gained from new market research to make wise decisions about marketing strategy going forward. You Make the Call 9185 Search 9:23 PM Mon Feb 15 Marketing in Action Case: Real Choices at Lego Marketing in Action Case: Real Choices at Lego Understanding market preferences can be as challenging as assembling Lego's 7,541-piece Millennium Falcon--which can be yours for only $799. The Danish toymaker known for their building sets made of colorful plastic "bricks" found that a variety of research methodologies were needed to determine what their young customers really want. They have also learned that even the best research does not guarantee long-term financial success. Founded by Ole Kirk Kristiansen in 1932, the LEGO Group has grown to become the world's largest toy manufacturer. However, in 2004, they were on the brink of bankruptcy. What happened? Lego aggressively leveraged its popular brand by moving into action figures and video games, believing that kids no longer wanted to spend time playing with old-fashioned plastic bricks. When CEO Jorgen Vig Knudstorp took over that year, the company was losing $1M per day. In pursuit of a turnaround, Kristiansen focused not on adding new product lines but on understanding their customers and the very phenomenon of "play." To gain this insight, Lego did not pursue normal market research techniques, like surveys and focus groups, but instead used advanced techniques like using MRI scans of kids' brains, noting which parts light up as they play with different toys. They also ventured into the science of anthropology, the study of humans and human behavior and societies. Their goal was to get to the roots of customer behaviors, a process that Lego's consultants, Re Associates, call sensemaking. Lego's researchers were embedded with families in the U.S. and Germany and spent months interviewing parents and children, shopping with them, creating video diaries, and studying toy shops. Through this deeper market research, Lego learned that children were not too busy to spend time building Legos. Instead, children play as an escape from their Search 9:21 PM Mon Feb 15 Lego's researchers were embedded with families in the U.S. and Germany and spent months interviewing parents and children, shopping with them, creating video diaries, and studying toy shops. Through this deeper market research, Lego learned that children were not too busy to spend time building Legos. Instead, children play as an escape from their overly orchestrated lives. They not only have the time but also have the desire to achieve mastery" by honing a skill like building their creations made of Lego bricks. This insight on why children play provided Lego with a new focus that returned them to their roots and propelled the company to revenue growth that nearly quintupled between 2007 and 2016 to $6B. This growth trajectory came to a screeching halt in 2017 when Lego saw revenue drop for the first time in 13 years, creating the need to shed about 1,400 jobs. Analysts point to competition from programmable robotic kits that appeal to kids in an increasingly digital world. Internal challenges have plagued the toymaker as well . Expecting continued growth, Lego created an organizational structure with many layers that made reacting to changing trends slow and marketing strategy implementation tedious. More fundamentally, inaccurate forecasting led them to manufacture more product than needed, leading to a sell-off at lower profit margins. Lego's recent history shows both the promise of creative market research and its limitations. Effective research is a foundation for the evidence-based approach to decision making you learned about in Chapter 30. But their recent challenges show that research alone-even using the most innovative methods-does not guarantee business success. Consistent success comes from asking the right questions, making the right interpretations, and ultimately implementing the right strategies. Lego management now has the challenge of putting the pieces of Lego back together again, using the knowledge gained from new market research to make wise decisions about marketing strategy going forward. You Make the Call Search 9:21 PM Mon Feb 15 Lego's researchers were embedded with families in the U.S. and Germany and spent months interviewing parents and children, shopping with them, creating video diaries, and studying toy shops Through this deeper market research, Lego learned that children were not too busy to spend time building Legos. Instead, children play as an escape from their overly orchestrated lives. They not only have the time but also have the desire to achieve mastery by honing a skill like building their creations made of Lego bricks. This insight on why children play provided Lego with a new focus that returned them to their roots and propelled the company to revenue growth that nearly quintupled between 2007 and 2016 to $6B. This growth trajectory came to a screeching halt in 2017 when Lego saw revenue drop for the first time in 13 years, creating the need to shed about 1,400 jobs. Analysts point to competition from programmable robotic kits that appeal to kids in an increasingly digital world. Internal challenges have plagued the toymaker as well. Expecting continued growth, Lego created an organizational structure with many layers that made reacting to changing trends slow and marketing strategy implementation tedious. More fundamentally, inaccurate forecasting led them to manufacture more product than needed, leading to a sell-off at lower profit margins. Lego's recent history shows both the promise of creative market research and its limitations. Effective research is a foundation for the evidence-based approach to decision making you learned about in Chapter 30, But their recent challenges show that research alone-even using the most innovative methods-does not guarantee business success. Consistent success comes from asking the right questions, making the right interpretations, and ultimately implementing the right strategies. Lego management now has the challenge of putting the pieces of Lego back together again, using the knowledge gained from new market research to make wise decisions about marketing strategy going forward. You Make the Call 9185 Search 9:23 PM Mon Feb 15 Marketing in Action Case: Real Choices at Lego Marketing in Action Case: Real Choices at Lego Understanding market preferences can be as challenging as assembling Lego's 7,541-piece Millennium Falcon--which can be yours for only $799. The Danish toymaker known for their building sets made of colorful plastic "bricks" found that a variety of research methodologies were needed to determine what their young customers really want. They have also learned that even the best research does not guarantee long-term financial success. Founded by Ole Kirk Kristiansen in 1932, the LEGO Group has grown to become the world's largest toy manufacturer. However, in 2004, they were on the brink of bankruptcy. What happened? Lego aggressively leveraged its popular brand by moving into action figures and video games, believing that kids no longer wanted to spend time playing with old-fashioned plastic bricks. When CEO Jorgen Vig Knudstorp took over that year, the company was losing $1M per day. In pursuit of a turnaround, Kristiansen focused not on adding new product lines but on understanding their customers and the very phenomenon of "play." To gain this insight, Lego did not pursue normal market research techniques, like surveys and focus groups, but instead used advanced techniques like using MRI scans of kids' brains, noting which parts light up as they play with different toys. They also ventured into the science of anthropology, the study of humans and human behavior and societies. Their goal was to get to the roots of customer behaviors, a process that Lego's consultants, Re Associates, call sensemaking. Lego's researchers were embedded with families in the U.S. and Germany and spent months interviewing parents and children, shopping with them, creating video diaries, and studying toy shops. Through this deeper market research, Lego learned that children were not too busy to spend time building Legos. Instead, children play as an escape from their
